Gurders Mantis

Dec 09:

My 3rd Pseudogalepsus. sp ooth hatched 2day again a quite low hatch rate but as more of the 2nd have survived I'm hopeful for the survival rate of this latest hatch. I have mated another female gongy and am now incubating her 1st ooth.

The 1st of my male Popa has moulted to adult so I will give it a few weeks and try and pair him up, from looking at the wing buds of the other males I don't think the others will be far behind.

The mated female Gongy has laid her 1st ooth, just gotta cross fingers and wait now. I have also managed to pair and mate another female

I put my 1st pair of 3rd gen adult Gongys together this afternoon... the male was on the job when I locked up the shed, fingers crossed for a 4th gen,

I have put together another pair of Pseudogalepsus sp as the younger nymphs I originally got have moulted to adult, I hope to do a bit better with this species this time round.

All but 1 of my male Pseudoharpax.v.v  have moulted to adult, most of the females are sub so fingers crossed I will have a chance to breed this small but pretty species

Nov 09:

All of my Popa females have moulted to adult now and I am waiting for the males to moult to adult now

Well I have failed with my attempt to breed Idolomorpha none of the ooths have hatched  I will have to try with this cool species again at some point 

My 2nd Pseudogalepsus. sp ooth has hatched but with a much lower hatch rate than the 1st

The Pseudogalepsus sp nymphs have proven to be very fragile, the remaining nymphs have been seperated and seem to be doing ok I will feel a lot happier when they have moulted to 2nd instar. I'm now waiting on the 2nd ooth to hatch and hope I can do better with them. I have had more Ephestiasula pictipes, Creobroter gemmatus & Pseudovates arizonae ooths hatch.

Oct 09:

The 1st Pseudogalepsus sp ooth has hatched, there looks to be quite a few nymphs but I am unsure what a good hatch is for this species. The ooth was laid on the 15th Sept so incubation period was 35 days.

A great ooth popping morning 2day with the 1st Ephestiasula pictipes & Pseudovates arizonae and the 2nd Creobroter gemmatus, a few extra ff cultures needed me thinks.

I had a nice surprise this morning when I went into the shed, the last Idolo ooth I have has hatched  I didn't expect much from it being the smallest Idolo ooth that I have had but low and behold 24 nymphs!!

The 1st Creobroter gemmatus ooth hatched this morning it was laid on the 29th Aug so took 41 days to hatch, I have counted 30 nymphs.

I have now seen the male Idolmorpha piggy-backing with both of the females put in with him but haven't seen copulation with either. So I can just treat the ooths as fertile and cross fingers and wait now.

Good news this morning spotted by my son the 1st of the Pseudocreobotra wahlbergii ooths had hatched, it's not a massive hatch but the ooths were not the biggest I've seen. I am just happy to breed this species at my 2nd attempt

I have put the 1st female Idolomorpha in the males cage today and have seen him piggy back riding on 2 occasions but not whitnessed copulation, so will give it another couple of days all being well and then let him re-charge his batteries for a few days before trying with female no 2

Sept 09:

I now have several Ephestiasula pictipes  ooths now so it is back to the waiting game to see if I can get my 1st generation of this cool little species

I now have 2 adult female Idolomorpha and my solitary male moulted to adult yesterday, the final female does not look far from her final moult now either. I've just got to bring the females into breeding condition and cross my fingers and toes that my male is lucky

The female Pseudogalepsus sp is now gaurding an ooth that is nearly the length of her  I have had several ooths from my female B.mendinca only time will tell if they are fertile

Have managed to get my 1st adult female Ephestiasula pictipes  mated along with a Pseudogalepsus sp so I am waiting for ooths now

An update on the Idolomantis hatch yesterdays nymphs were just half as this morning the number had doubled, which is very nice

Very happy 2day I have my 2nd generation Idolomantis, the 1st ooth from the 2nd mated female Idolo hatched during the night  I have counted 16 nymphs. The ooth was laid on the 19th July so took 51 days to hatch, which is a bit longer hatching time than the 1st gen. The only problem is that the only other ooth female 2 has laid is a lot smaller that the 1st.

I have put D.lobata in a breeding cage in the greenhouse for a bit of privacy, still no signs of action after a couple of days, fingers crossed. I have put 2 pairs of B.mendinca into breeding cages, I have seen 1 male piggy-back riding but no copulation. I was dissapointed to find that male dead in the bottom of the cage this morning, after noticing blackness around the mouthparts and back of his head yesterday.

I have put a pair of Pseudogalepsus sp in  a breeding cage, she looks fit to burst but I have seen no action. So I can just cross fingers and hope he gets the job done, I have another adult male as back-up thankfully.

Aug 09:

After waiting too long for my 1st Idolo ooth, I've opened it up to find what I feared......

Fingers crossed the ooths from the other mated female I have hatch.

I now have an adult pair of Pseudogalepsus sp so will give them a few weeks to mature and try and pair them up.

The mated Creobroter gemmatus female has laid the 1st ooth, 4 days after mating. I will remove the ooth from her continer in a couple of days and put it in a hatching tub and wait.

I am now waiting on the Blepharopsis mendica's to mature before I can try and breed this rather cool species, I am keeping the females nice and plump now.

I have finally seen a male Pseudovates arizonae piggy-back riding so fingers & toes crossed he did his job, edit! Yes he knows what he is doing and enjoyed it that much he has gone back for seconds! risky tho lol!!

I have had 1st time luck pairing up Creobroter gemmatus  I put them into a cage last night and found him on the job this morning . The hardest part was putting the male into the breeding cage, the little bugger is a great flyer and investigated the shed well lol. 

My 2nd female Pseudovates arizonae is also a male muncher and am not sure if he managed to do the business before the end, all I can do is wait for another male to mature and try again. I'll put the ooths from both females in a tub and see.

Despite the female Pseudocreobotra wahlbergii calling she munched my only male  Thanks to Kev I've got another male that has lasted days with her but no signs of them getting it on.

July 09:

I have noticed my only female Pseudocreobotra wahlbergii calling this morning so have put a male into a larger tub with a few twigs and will put her in with him in the next day or too. I have given up on the 1st Pseudovates arizonae female after munching 2 males, female no 2 is fit to burst and the male is in a cage waiting for her. I have moved the breeding cage closer to a light for additional heat to see if that encourages the male.

Had another decent sized ooth from the 1st of my mated Idolos, just waiting for the 2nd mated female to lay. No joy as yet with the Pseudovates arizonae but am happy that the 2nd male has lived longer with her, after talking with Pim I suspect the ooth she has laid isn't fertile due to its large size..

The Pseudovates arizonae despite calling and being filled decided to munch the male, thankfully another male has just moulted to adult and I have 2 other adult females plus a few other males. Patience might haved paid off with my 2nd pair of Idolos, male been mounted for 2 days now after sharing a cage in the greenhouse for a few weeks. 

Another of the remaining Acromantis formosana ooths have hatched as have another Alalomantis coxalis, plus a couple more 3rd gen Gongy & the last of the Phyllocrania paradoxa. I have got my 1st adult female Pseudovates arizonae who I have seen calling this morning so she will be put into the males cage 2moz so fingers crossed.

June 09:

The mated Idolo laid a very nice sized ooth this morning, another 3rd gen Gongy ooth has also hatched

The 1st of my 3rd gen Gongy ooths has hatched, I have counted approx 35 nymphs. After loosing all my Acromantis formosana nymphs after the last overheat in the shed I was glad to see 1 of the remaining ooths that I have has hatched.

The 1st of the Alalomantis coxalis ooths has hatched a fair number of nymphs, it was laid on the 14th of May so took 40 days to hatch